


Wish Upon a Dried Frog's Leg

by SamCyberCat



Category: Free!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Magic, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-17
Updated: 2016-11-17
Packaged: 2018-08-31 13:06:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,032
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8579677
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SamCyberCat/pseuds/SamCyberCat
Summary: There's a world of magic out there that Makoto doesn't understand. It's full of witches, wizards, merfolk, genies and other such beings. But he doesn't need to understand any of it anyway, because he's merely a delivery boy. Until one day he runs foul of Iwatobi's local witch, Haru, and quickly realises that he needs to learn more about magic than he'd ever wanted to.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [KaijuusAndKryptids](https://archiveofourown.org/users/KaijuusAndKryptids/gifts).



> A party favour fill for the 2016 Makoto Birthday Fanworks Exchange on AO3. Written for CommunistFireworks. A modern magic AU where Haru is a witch and Makoto is a magic store delivery boy. This is one of those fic-fills that ended up spiralling into a much bigger story than I initially intended, but I hope that it's still enjoyable even if it does stray a bit away from the original prompt.

When Makoto stopped to tie his shoelaces he saw the stray dried frog's leg at the bottom of his otherwise empty satchel and groaned to himself. There was only one person on his list who'd ordered frog's legs today and that was a house he'd rather not have to go back to. Not because he disliked the reclusive witch Haru, but... well, talking to Haru was always awkward. It was nearly impossible to make conversation with him. Unlike all of the other customers, who were always so eager to chat with Makoto about whatever they were working on that he usually had to make excuses to leave.

It was only one frog's leg... Maybe he wouldn't even notice that it was missing...

But Makoto just couldn't live with himself if he provided bad customer service and he wasn't entirely sure that Haru wouldn't complain to the store if he did notice he was one short, so he backtracked up the hill towards Haru's house.

As usual, it took a few minutes after knocking on the door before he got an answer, but at least this time Haru had a reason to look surprised, since he hadn't been expecting Makoto to come back. On most other days he looked surprised even if the store had arranged an exact time for the delivery with him.

“Yes?” Haru prompted.

“Hey, sorry to bother you, but one of these must have fallen out in my bag. Wouldn't want you to be caught short, so I'm just bringing it back to you,” Makoto replied. He thrust the dried frog's leg towards Haru.

“You've touched it,” said Haru, without taking it from him.

Makoto looked down at the frog's leg; “Was I not supposed to? I handle loads of these at work and no one's complained yet.”

“So you're a human then,” Haru guessed, letting out a sigh of relief.

“Yeah, I'm about as magical as a brick. The store was pretty keen to hire me for that reason, but I never fully understood why,” admitted Makoto. To him a job was a job.

“Magical beings leave a trace of themselves on potion ingredients that can make spells have... unpredictable results if used by another,” Haru explained, “Your store always leaves their signature on ingredients, which is to be expected, but it'd be bad for their business if something was passed around before getting to the person who bought it. Also, bricks can be extremely magical, so that wasn't the best comparison.”

“My bad! I guess I don't know anything about this,” replied Makoto, with an awkward chuckle.

Haru looked him up and down. This was easily the most conversation that Makoto had ever gotten out of him and being scrutinised like this made him a little nervous. When Haru finally reached forward to accept the frog's leg he was relieved.

“I'm curious – why would you take a job like this if you don't know anything about magic?” Haru asked.

“Mostly because I needed money and they hired me,” answered Makoto, “But now that I've been there for a while the magical aspect of it's started to interest me as well. My family are all plain old humans, we've never had much experience with magic, but I've seen so much from working with the store. It's hard to believe what some of the wizards around here can do.”

“Yes, wizards are notorious show-offs,” Haru muttered. He sounded unimpressed.

“They are?” Makoto said, “Forgive my cluelessness, but I honestly don't know what the big difference is between wizards and witches.”

On Makoto's delivery route it was mostly all wizards, merfolk and the odd harpy, with Haru being the only witch. There were a few other witches in the wider area, he'd been told, but none of them took deliveries from the store. Most witches seemed to prefer to gather their own ingredients and now that Haru had told him about the store's marking of ingredients he assumed it might be so they can bypass that.

It seemed that his question had been a bad one though, because Haru frowned at him. He considered Makoto for a few moments, before finally settling on an answer.

“There's a lot to it, but it generally boils down to how you use your magic,” he said, “Wizards are show-offs, like I said. They like to think of themselves as pioneers, wanting to discover grander and grander magic to benefit society, when really they're only concerned about getting their names in the history books.”

“Don't say that, all the wizards I've met are very nice,” Makoto reasoned.

“But I bet they show off their magic to you whenever you visit them,” said Haru.

“Well... there's nothing wrong with being proud of what you do,” mumbled Makoto. Though he sensed that he wouldn't get far in this debate, so he pressed on, “Okay, so that's wizards. But what about witches, what do you do?”

“I do what I want,” Haru replied, “What I do is very different to what the witch Sousuke is doing in Sano and different again to what the witch Rin is doing in Australia. But I suppose an easy answer would be that witches use magic that works for the people. Wizards would call it smaller magic, but I don't think it is. If I wasn't here helping mothers to deliver babies or seeing to it that crops don't spoil then there might not be any wizards or anyone else to start with.”

“You do all that?” Makoto said, “That sounds impressive!”

Haru snorted; “You say that, but you'd get bored to watch. My magic isn't big and flashy. It's more about hanging the right ingredients in a cat's cradle and hoping for the best.”

“Is that the kind of spell you use to help with babies?” checked Makoto.

“No, that part's just hard work. But you have to do your part for the community. All witches do or else things would be... bad,” Haru said, though he didn't elaborate on what he meant by 'bad', “Being a witch is more often about how you can avoid using magic unless you need to.”

“I think that clears things up a bit better,” replied Makoto, though he wasn't entirely sure, “Thanks for the explanation. I'll let you get on now.”

“Thank you,” concluded Haru. He gave Makoto a small bow and then stepped back to shut the door. Curt as always.

It shouldn't have been a big deal, but Makoto found that as he walked away his mind was whirling from what Haru had told him. He knew that Haru was different from most of the store's other customers, but he'd never realised it was for any other reason besides Haru being Haru. And he'd certainly had no idea that Haru was apparently doing so much for Iwatobi, given that Haru was so reclusive hardly anyone ever talked about him.

As he got back to the store he was lucky enough to find that the owner, a retired wizard called Sasabe, was still hanging around, loading up a wagon with some larger goods to go to the next town over. Makoto couldn't help himself from bringing Haru up.

“Hey Mr. Sasabe, I've got all the deliveries done for today. Haru was surprisingly talkative for once,” Makoto called. He didn't mention that the reason for this had been because he'd missed out part of Haru's order, because there was no point in stirring trouble where you didn't need to.

“Oh? Well, I'm glad to hear that. Haru's a good lad,” Sasabe answered, as he climbed down from the back of the wagon, “Don't know where Iwatobi would be without him.”

“Does Haru really do that much?” asked Makoto.

“More than most people realise,” Sasabe confirmed, “I bet you could ask any person in this town and find that Haru's done something to help them out. Heck, even your parents! Back when Haru was just an apprentice learning up to replace his grandmother, Ren and Ran were the first kids he helped birth.”

“Really!” Makoto gasped.

“Yeah, but you and Haru would have both been quite young then, so I'm not surprised you don't remember,” said Sasabe, “Honestly, it's a shame that his grandmother passed on as early as she did, but Haru seems to have done an okay job teaching himself the ropes. It's not easy being a witch, but I think Iwatobi's in good hands with Haru.”

“So if he's Iwatobi's witch is that why there's no others around here?” Makoto checked.

Sasabe made a funny face, waving his hand around in the universal symbol of 'kinda?' before he replied, “It's not that you can strictly only have one witch per town, but they tend to be grumpy and like their space. From what I've seen witches can work together when they need to, but otherwise they tend to keep to their own areas. They wouldn't call themselves territorial, but I'd probably call them that.”

“I see,” Makoto hummed, “Well, thanks for the explanation, Mr. Sasabe. I best be heading off!”

“Take care and don't get into any trouble,” called Sasabe, as Makoto made to leave.

“Don't worry, I always keep out of trouble,” Makoto assured, even if that was only partially true.

Though he did tell himself that what he was doing wasn't actually bothering anyone, he was just asking about Haru because he was curious. Most people in town knew Makoto, both because of his job at the magic supplies store and because he was just a friendly face who made time for everyone. And he fast learned that most people knew Haru as well, almost all of them having fond stories to tell about the little things that Haru had done to help them in the past.

There was the aloof harpy Rei, who told Makoto at a little too much length about how every moulting season Haru would provide him with a home-made ointment to stop the itching. Then Makoto's good friend Nagisa chimed in with how Haru's incantations always helped his family's crops grow well. As Makoto walked along the sea-front he passed two of the chattiest sirens, the Mikoshiba brothers, who when Haru was mentioned both gushed over how much attention to detail he'd give to problems that any of the merfolk in the area had – he was considered their 'expert land-walker', whatever that meant. Then further down the road he crossed paths with the silver wizard Nitori, who said that Haru was always very patient and kind towards him, even though he obviously didn't care for wizards. Heck, even Makoto's friend Gou had a story about Haru, telling him about how Haru had been good friends with her brother before he'd moved away.

By the end of the day Makoto concluded that Haru was quietly important in his own way and because of that maybe it wouldn't hurt to get to know him better.

When Haru's name next showed up on Makoto's delivery sheet he was overjoyed for another chance to talk to him. Especially since Haru's was always the last house he dropped off at, on account of it being further away than any of the others on his route. That meant he'd hopefully have lots of time left over to talk to him.

...However, one factor he hadn't taken into consideration was that Haru might not want to talk. When the door was opened, Haru glared at Makoto sharply and reached out to take the packet that was offered to him.

“Is something wrong?” Makoto asked. Even if Haru was always quite blunt, he usually didn't have an expression quite this acidic.

“You haven't touched anything in the packet, have you?” Haru grumbled.

“No, of course not. You can see that it's wrapped,” replied Makoto, “I think the frog's leg from the other day had just slipped out when Mr. Sasabe was wrapping them up.”

“Good. Make sure you don't touch anything ever again,” growled Haru.

With that, he made to close the door, but Makoto was faster. Although he had a reputation for being a gentle giant, Makoto was still strong enough to be able to hold his ground when he needed to. He jammed his foot in the door to stop Haru from closing it, which didn't improve Haru's mood at all.

“What do you mean by that? Did something happen with the other delivery?” he demanded.

It looked like Haru was considering arguing with them, but then he seemed to think better of it and instead opened the door fully. He gestured for Makoto to come inside.

Even if it was in bad circumstances, Makoto was curious to see the inside of Haru's house. It almost looked like it had been taken from a picture book about witches, with herbs, glass bottles and many, many oddities hung up on the walls, sitting on shelves and practically covering every surface in the dwelling. One thing that stood out in particular were the small Iwatobi-chan dolls, as there were many of them about. Makoto had grown up seeing these all over town to the point that he'd never given them much thought before now. He assumed that they were the town's mascot or something, but from the ones on a work-table in various states of completion he now realised that they probably came from Haru.

As he looked back over at Haru, he realised that he was pointing sharply towards one of the Iwatobi-chans. There were two baskets, one labelled 'finished', which contained a pile of what looked like freshly made dolls, and one labelled 'problem', which contained the single doll that Haru was pointing to. Upon further inspection, Makoto realised that the tips of its wings were green instead of their usual pink.

“Looks like you used the wrong dye,” Makoto mumbled.

“That's not how these work,” Haru sighed, “And now this one doesn't work at all.”

“Okay, so you messed one up, but what does that have to do with me?” replied Makoto. As much as he wanted to avoid it, Haru's irritation was making him irritable as well.

“This one was dipped into the brew I made using the frog's legs you brought me yesterday,” Haru informed, “As you might be able to guess, the wings usually end up pink, but because you tainted that one frog's leg the whole brew was ruined. I have no idea what this Iwatobi-chan might do, so I had to throw out the rest of the brew to make sure there were no risk of any more becoming like this.”

“I can't have done that! I told you, I have no magic,” Makoto reminded.

Haru stared into his eyes. The glare felt like he was looking for something and the intensity of it made Makoto shiver, but he didn't look away. After all, if he wanted to prove his honesty to Haru by not becoming intimidated by him.

After a long moment, Haru stated, “...You do have magic. It's very faint, but it's there.”

“What!” Makoto gasped, “You've got it wrong! No one in my family has ever had magical powers before. Trust me, I've had to convince my siblings they can't fly every time they see the harpies migrate.”

“Magic can show up unexpectedly in humans,” explained Haru, “And it can show up at any time. You could be born with it or it could develop when you're ninety-five, there's no predicting magic.”

“So what do I do now...?” Makoto asked. A tiny panic was starting to build in his chest.

Haru shrugged; “Whatever you want to do. You could even ignore it, but I wouldn't recommend that. Your best option would be to seek out one of the wizards to teach you about it, so that you can be better prepared for the changes that'll come to you.”

“But I thought you hated the wizards...” mumbled Makoto.

“I don't... hate them,” Haru said, though he didn't make any attempts to justify that he didn't, “And they take on apprentices all the time. There's nothing a wizard likes more than passing on their knowledge. Why do you think there's so many schools for it in the cities? ...I wouldn't recommend those though, the schools can be a bit funny if you're not born into magic and they do expect you to have the basic knowledge when you enrol, which you don't.”

Everything was whirling in Makoto's head. He'd come here to drop off a delivery and was now learning he apparently had life-changing abilities just because he'd touched a frog's leg and made a doll's wings turn green. It was all too much. In some kind of desperation he made a stupid suggestion.

“Why can't I be your apprentice?” he asked.

“My apprentice...?” Haru echoed, then he shook his head, “Surely Sasabe has told you that witches aren't easy to work with.”

“But your grandmother taught you. He told me that,” Makoto tried.

“Yes, I was her apprentice before she passed away, but I always knew that I wanted to be a witch,” said Haru, “Witchcraft is a thankless kind of magic. You work hard all year around to make sure your patch of land is running smoothly, but few people even know you're doing it and when you're gone, as long as another witch comes along to replace you, they won't care. If you want to have fun with magic then you'd be better off in wizardry.”

“I'm not here to have fun,” Makoto argued, “Ever since as far back as I remember, I've always done my part to help this town. Helping out others is just what I do, you can ask anyone. And you're wrong about people not noticing your work, everyone I asked about you had good things to say.”

Haru sighed, “It sounds like you're serious about this.”

“I am,” Makoto confirmed.

“Very well then, I accept you as my apprentice. You are to go back to Sasabe and tell him that you have to retire from your position there on account of you having developed magical abilities. He will understand. Recommend the siren Momotarou to take your place, as it will do him good to have something to put his energy to when he's on land. Don't worry about your wages either, I'll cover what you need until your apprenticeship has finished. Once you've sorted out your situation at the shop I expect you to return here at 6:00am tomorrow morning. You will shadow me and observe the tasks I carry out during that day, because it's too late for me to cancel the commitments I've made for tomorrow. On the day after that I will begin to teach you the basics,” Haru instructed, “Is this satisfactory?”

“I... um, y-yes, of course!” stammered Makoto.

“Good. Now take that Iwatobi-chan with you when you leave. I don't want to risk its magic seeping out into the rest of the batch,” barked Haru.

And that was how Makoto ended up becoming an apprentice to the grumpy witch Haru. It was a huge change and took his family by surprise, but they seemed proud of him, even if he had lost his job at the magic supplies store. Ren and Ran were so jealous of him, both demanding that he tell them how he did it and then going off in a huff when he said that it just happened. Right now Makoto's head was spinning too much for him to be too worried about it though, they'd forgive him in time.

As he went up to his room he put the Iwatobi-chan that was apparently infused with his magic on a shelf and hoped that it would give him good luck.

The weeks that followed proved that his luck was in fact variable, however. Haru was a harsh master. He expected Makoto to be up at the crack of dawn every morning (something that Makoto wasn't the biggest fan of...) and then worked him hard during the day. And although he did explain the basics, for the most part he expected Makoto to figure things out using his initiative after that.

When Makoto got something wrong, Haru wouldn't hesitate to tell him. But on the flip side that meant that during the rare times that Haru would praise his work, Makoto could be sure that he truly meant it. A good witch didn't come from false praise, Haru assured him.

And most of the work they did was just that. Haru hadn't been lying when he said there was very little actual magic usage involved in doing witchcraft if it could be avoided. Weaving the Iwatobi-chan dolls was about the most magical thing that Makoto got to do, since Haru still mostly stuck to making potions for the townsfolk himself. There were times when Makoto would ask if he could try, but Haru would simply look at Makoto's most recent Iwatobi-chan and then say he wasn't ready yet without further explanation.

It was frustrating, to say the least, and there were days when Makoto wondered if Haru believed he had any potential at all or if he was just using him as an extra pair of hands around the town.

On one such day that this thought was crossing his mind, Makoto was on his way back to Haru's house after dropping some potions off at the school for Ms. Amakata. As he walked up the hill he saw someone he didn't recognise staring up at the house. He figured that since he studied there that kind of made it his business, so he stopped to talk to the stranger.

“Hey there, can I help you with something?” Makoto asked, “I work as an apprentice with the witch here, so if there's anything you need to know then I can see what I can do.” One thing Makoto had learned was that while everyone in town respected Haru, many were intimidated by his gruff nature. So it wasn't unusual for people to now come to Makoto when they wanted to talk to Haru. He assumed this person might be the same way.

“Haru's got himself an apprentice, eh?” hummed the stranger, “Didn't expect that.”

“It's not your business if I take one on or not, Rin.”

The reply came from Haru, who had come to the door when Makoto had stopped to talk to this Rin. It was obvious that they knew each other from somewhere and Makoto had a feeling Rin might even be the brother that Gou had mentioned a few times, so he stood back to let the two of them talk.

“Nice to see you're as pleasant as always,” Rin replied, “Aren't you going to introduce me to this apprentice of yours then?”

Haru nodded; “Rin, this is Makoto, he's recently discovered his magical abilities and is learning to be a witch under my watch. His magic is green, but beyond that it hasn't developed. And Makoto, this is Rin, the Australian witch.”

“An Australian witch,” corrected Rin, “You know as well as I do that there are many witches across the country, Haru. I merely went there in the hope that I could refine my skill and pick up some of their knowledge.”

Haru grunted in response to that.

“So you're from Iwatobi originally then?” asked Makoto, since Haru wasn't making any effort to talk, “I think I know your sister, Gou, if you're the same Rin.”

“That'll be right,” Rin replied, “But staying here was causing my abilities to stagnate, so I wanted to go somewhere that I could challenge myself. That and back then neither Haru nor Sousuke would agree to form a coven with me.” He pointedly paused there to look over at Haru.

“I still won't,” Haru retorted.

“You're such a stubborn mule,” Rin sighed, “I can only hope that Sousuke's changed his mind, though we'll still need a third person if you don't agree to it.”

“Do whatever you want,” muttered Haru.

He then turned to go back into his house, but Rin wasn't finished yet. He redirected his gaze to Makoto, who felt rooted to the spot by the sudden intrigue.

“What about you?” Rin said, “If you're only just learning then it might be a lot to put on you, but Sousuke and I are both experienced enough to pick up the slack.”

“I, um... don't know what you're talking about,” admitted Makoto.

“What! Haru hasn't even told you about covens? No wonder you're stuck here with him like this,” Rin laughed.

Before he could say another word, Haru took hold of Makoto's arm. The surprise caused him to jump, but when he saw it was just Haru he settled again.

“I haven't told him things that he doesn't need to know,” growled Haru.

“No, you haven't told him things that you don't want him to know,” Rin argued, as he flashed Haru a toothy grin, “And that's just not fair. Maybe you're stuck in the dark ages of wanting to do everything by yourself, but that doesn't mean you should force everyone else to be like that. If your apprentice wants to join a coven then you should let him.”

After a long pause, Haru conceded defeat; “I'll tell him about covens. Then if he wants to join that's his choice.”

“That's more like,” said Rin, “Now if you're definitely not interested then I might as well head over to Sano to see Sousuke. It'll probably be a few days before I get back, so Makoto has plenty of time to think about it.”

With that, Rin took a stick out of his back pocket. He tossed it up into the air and as it fell back down the stick grew out and sprouted bristles at the end, making it look like a broom. It hovered a few feet above the ground when it steadied, so Rin jumped onto it, gave them both a wave and then flew off towards the hilly peaks.

“He should have been a wizard...” Haru mumbled, before turning to walk back into the house. Makoto followed him, with so many questions on his mind, but it seemed that Haru was ahead of him, starting to talk again once the door had been closed, “I'll explain to you what a coven is now. I had... intended to, but it was something that I thought could wait until later on in your training. There aren't a lot of witches around here, so it's not very often that someone wants to form one. Rin is the only person in my lifetime who ever has.”

“You're not that old though,” Makoto pointed out.

“A coven, as you might have gathered, is a group of witches who work... somewhat in unison with each other,” Haru started, choosing to ignore Makoto's comment about his age, “They still largely stick to their own areas, so even if I had joined Rin and Sousuke, for example, I still wouldn't do dealings in Sano, because that would be interfering with Sousuke's town. But it means you have someone to back you up if you ever need the help. And also you have to meet up with them for tea every other month... It takes a minimum of three witches to form a coven. I've been told you can have as many as you like on top of that, but getting three witches to get along with each other is a big enough task on its own without adding more of them into the mix.”

“But... that sounds like a good thing,” Makoto replied, as he tried to process it all, “Having someone to back you up is always handy and meeting up would mean you can talk about whatever you've learned and maybe learn something yourself.”

“I've never needed the help,” sneered Haru, “And from what I remember of Sousuke, he's not really one for sitting around talking over cake either, so Rin's wasting his time.”

“You're just being stubborn,” Makoto retorted.

“Excuse me?” said Haru.

“You heard me. From what you've said it doesn't sound like there's anything wrong with a coven, it's just that you're too stuck in your ways,” Makoto accused, “Maybe if I joined up with those other two they could even teach me some real magic, which is more than you've been doing so far.”

“You're not ready for it yet,” insisted Haru.

“When will I be ready for it then? You keep looking at those dolls and telling me that I'm not, but what can they tell you that I can't? When will I be ready, Haru?” Makoto demanded.

“If you need to ask me that then you're not ready and that's all I have to say on the matter,” answered Haru, “Now, there's still work you need to get back to that I expect you to do. While you're here with me you'll follow my instructions. If you're that desperate to run off and join a coven then at least wait until Rin comes back.”

“And maybe I will!”

Makoto stormed out of the house after that, slamming the door behind him in a way that made the wind-chimes jangle noisily. He instantly felt bad, but he knew that he'd committed to it now, so he couldn't go back. With that in mind, he went to clear out the empty beehives, since that was one job that still needed to be done. Busying himself with that meant that he didn't have to think about Haru or covens or anything else that made him angry.

He stayed at that task for little over an hour, stopping only when he saw Gou head towards the house, spot Makoto and then change direction to talk to him. It wasn't unusual for her to visit at this time of day, so Makoto didn't think anything of it.

“Are you sure you want to be doing that now? Looks like it's going to rain soon,” she commented, once she was closer to him.

“Yeah,” Makoto replied.

“Did... something happen?” Gou checked. It must have been clear from his face that he was still annoyed.

“You could say that,” said Makoto. He sat back to talk to her properly, “Your brother came by today. Seems like he wanted Haru to join some kind of coven, but he wasn't interested.”

“Oh, that old argument? Rin's going to keep on asking until the end of time. That'll never change,” Gou dismissed, with a wave of her hand.

“But I don't get why Haru wouldn't want to. From what he told me it sounds like he'd be better off as part of a coven. It's just that he's too stubborn to admit that,” muttered Makoto, still reeling in his annoyance with him.

“Rin and Haru have always clashed for as far back as I can remember. They both have very different ideas on what it takes to be a witch. Honestly, even if Haru did agree to it I don't think they'd last very long in a coven,” Gou said, “Besides, what would they do about Iwatobi?”

“What do you mean by that?” asked Makoto.

“You know what witches are like for territory. If Rin forms a coven in Japan then he'll probably come back here himself and then there'll be two witches vying for work in this town,” she explained. Then she regarded Makoto and added as an afterthought, “Maybe even three.”

“There's no need to include me in that. I'm not interested in anything more than learning what I need to know so that I can help out where I can,” assured Makoto.

Gou shook her head; “It's not that simple. All witches want to help out in the place where they live, that's how they get work. A town will be happy if it has a good witch who looks after the people and the land. So someone like you, who genuinely loves to help others, could actually be a big threat to Haru.”

That was something Makoto had never thought of before. He stared off towards Haru's house, wondering what could be going on in his mentor's head.

“So he's training me up knowing that one day I could replace him...?” Makoto mumbled.

“Pretty much. That's why everyone was so surprised that he took you on. It's normal for an older witch to train up a young apprentice to take over from her, but you and Haru are about the same age. So it's not as if he's training you up for when he dies,” said Gou.

“Why would he then?” Makoto mused.

“Beats me. He's a very confusing guy,” replied Gou.

After that the conversation changed. Gou had come here to pick up some Iwatobi-chans to hang around her home for good luck, so Makoto sorted her out with those (ones made by Haru, of course) and then saw her on her way.

Once Gou had headed off he figured that enough time had passed for him to talk to Haru, but he couldn't find him anywhere in the house. It wasn't hard to believe that he'd slipped away while Makoto had been cleaning out the empty beehives, so Makoto settled himself down by the fire to weave some more dolls until he got back.

As he stared into the flames he allowed his mind to wander, drifting into the magical world that he was now part of, but still barely knew anything about. He thought of all the magical beings that had been part of his life and how he'd gotten so used to them that he wasn't bothered by them at all. He didn't look at Rei and wish that he could fly like him or look at the Mikoshiba brothers and wish that he could swim many miles out into the ocean. In all honesty, he hadn't even been that interested in the wizards, beyond being impressed by whatever magic they showed him when he'd made his deliveries.

Now that he thought about it, Makoto had always been content with just being Makoto. Right up until he'd become Haru's apprentice. After that he suddenly had to be something that he knew nothing about and that made him nervous.

But the more he thought about it as he sat there in front of the fire, the more he realised that it wasn't Haru's teachings that made him nervous. Because everything that he'd learn from Haru had been so very human. He knew how to care for bees now, how to predict what the weather for the next day would be like based on the night sky, how to care for injured animals and people, and (the biggest secret of all) how to brew the ointment for Rei's wings that wasn't actually magical at all, but as long as Rei believed it was it stopped him from itching. So much of magic seemed to be just one big bluff. The people believed Makoto was magical, even if what he was doing was in truth just things they could do if they weren't so busy. It seemed that what Haru was teaching him was the power of hard work and belief more than anything else.

Realising that made Makoto a little sad though, because maybe there was no more to his magic than that. Maybe he'd never fly a broomstick over the hills like Rin did or make everyday objects explode like Nitori (mostly unintentionally) did. Maybe he'd just always be reliable, mundane Makoto. And maybe that was okay, but it'd still be nice to be something more impressive...

He made the green-tipped Iwatobi-chan dolls though. Even though he used the same ingredients that Haru did and followed the same instructions. Makoto's always came out green and Haru's always came out pink. So that had to mean there was magic within him.

As he considered this, Makoto realised that he'd been weaving the same doll for quite a long time. Looking down he saw that the body was far too fat and that wouldn't do at all. He could probably unravel it and start again, but he wasn't thinking straight in that moment. So before he realised what he was doing, he cast the doll into the fire.

His eyes widened as he realised his mistake. Quickly, Makoto reached into the fire, grabbing at the doll. It's eyes stared at him, as if judging him for what he'd done, and as he tried to brush it off he realised it was far too burnt to be of any use.

“What a waste...” he muttered.

But then he saw the tips of its wings. They were green, as always, but instead of the usual dull green they were shining brightly. He touched them. They were pleasantly warm, just like the fire had been.

The fire that he'd just stuck his hand into...!

Makoto backed up in horror and stared down at one of his hands, but they weren't burnt at all! Surely that was impossible!

“Haru...? Haru, I think I've done magic!” he called.

However, there was no one around to hear him. Haru still hadn't got back and now it was dark outside. Makoto tutted, picked up a blanket, stuffed it into his satchel and headed outside, locking up behind him before he went off to look for Haru.

Even after studying with him for only a short while, Makoto knew Haru's usual haunts. There were various places by the sea that he liked to go sometimes when he he needed to think. If Makoto checked each of them in turn then he'd be likely to find Haru eventually.

And it turned out that he did, at the point that sat the closest to the mountains. But while Haru would usually be sat looking out to sea, today he was sitting the opposite way, looking into the land. So he saw Makoto coming, but he didn't make any movements. That was just like Haru...

“Honestly, you'll freeze if you stay out here over night...” Makoto told him.

He took the blanket out of his satchel and wrapped it around Haru, willing it to be warm as he did. There must have been some sort of effect, because Haru jumped with a start and looked up at Makoto, his mouth hanging open for a moment.

“You did magic...” he said.

“A nice, warm blanket is as much magic as any spell could be,” replied Makoto, saying what he thought Haru would say if the situation was reversed.

Haru took hold the the blanket and pulled it close, nuzzling into it's unnatural warmth.

“I knew that you'd figure it out if I left you alone with it,” Haru whispered, “Though I wouldn't have guessed you'd have fire magic, of all things.”

“Does that make me as unpredictable as you?” asked Makoto, as he sat down next to Haru.

“Probably even more so,” said Haru. He was silent for a while and Makoto let him sit there like that, knowing that he was thinking of what to say next. Sure enough, after the pause Haru spoke up, “...I have to apologise to you. It's been wrong of me to keep you in the dark like I have been for my own, selfish reasons. If you want to go join the coven when Rin comes back, I'll understand.”

“I've been thinking about that, too,” replied Makoto, “And I'm not ruling out the coven one day, it still seems like a good idea to me. But for the moment, I think I've still got a lot to learn with you. Having fire magic is impressive, sure, but honestly, I feel more impressed by all the things you've taught me in such a short space of time. Even without magic those will be helpful. So I want to stay with you until my training's complete. And then when it is... well, I'd rather work with you than against you.”

Haru turned to look at him, his eyes sparkling in a way that Makoto hadn't seen from them before. He didn't say anything in response, but the gratitude he felt seemed to radiate from him. They now knew where they stood with each other. Makoto wasn't going to steal Iwatobi from Haru and instead they would help each other. That had to be the right way to go about it.

They stayed there for a long time, watching the night creatures that flew over the ocean or jumped out of the waters below. It was so nice that Makoto felt they could even have stayed there all night, but eventually Haru conceded that they'd have to go back. There was no need to say that Makoto would stay the night with him, that was becoming usual.

When they got back to the house it seemed that the fire had burnt itself out (and Haru promptly scolded Makoto for not dowsing it properly before he left, but nothing had been damaged, so Makoto didn't see the big deal), but it only took Makoto a moment to warm up the embers using his newly discovered powers. He was mostly showing off, but for this one time Haru allowed that. Then, with the house warm, they settled down for the night.

***

It was a few days later when Rin returned. This time he knocked on the door, though it was still Makoto who answered him. He smiled keenly upon sight of them.

“Hey... Makoto, wasn't it?” he greeted.

“That's right. Nice to see you again, Rin, but I'm afraid Haru's out seeing to the Hazuki family's crops right now,” Makoto replied.

“Don't worry about it, I mostly wanted to talk to you anyway. So I'll cut right to the point – have you thought any more about my coven?” asked Rin.

“I have,” confirmed Makoto, “But I've decided I want to get some more training done before I commit to something like that. I'm not ruling it out though, I just don't think I'll be much use to you right now.”

“That's the best answer I've gotten so far,” Rin confessed, “Sousuke said he wasn't ready yet either. Between you and me, I really don't get why most witches are such loners.”

“Give it time. Maybe once I'm a full-fledged witch and I join your coven it might encourage the two of them to do the same,” reassured Makoto.

“Let's hope so,” sighed Rin, “Anyway, before I head off, Sousuke gave me a package to pass on to Haru. Says it's his turn to look after it or something like that.”

He passed a shoebox across to Makoto. It was loosely wrapped in string, but in a way that suggested the sender was in a hurry to be getting rid of it.

“Thanks, I'll pass it onto him,” Makoto said.

“And while you're at it, pass on the message that I'll get him one of these days, too,” Rin added.

Makoto smirked, then quietly replied, “Not if I get there first you won't.”

Rin reeled backwards a couple of steps, but then burst out laughing. He shook his head at Makoto, a definite spark in his eyes now.

“I didn't realise it was like that,” he whistled, “Looks like I've got some competition.”

“It's not much of a competition if you're over in Australia,” Makoto pointed out.

“Then maybe I'll just have to come back,” Rin argued, “And then you'll have to put up with three witches being in one town and Haru won't thank you for that.”

“He can handle it,” Makoto dismissed.

“If you say so,” laughed Rin, “But for now I'm heading off. Going to visit Gou before I disappear overseas again. And let me tell you that's a flight that leaves you with a sore behind. If I wasn't skimping on the price it'd almost be enough to convince me to catch a plane instead... Anyway, you can thank me for letting you have a head start, but once I'm back in Iwatobi it won't take me long to win Haru over.”

“Good luck to you,” Makoto said, as calmly as ever. He sensed that it annoyed Rin ever so slightly, which was actually a little thrilling. Things were going to get interesting around here...

Once Rin saw himself off, Makoto headed inside and placed the shoebox down on the table for when Haru got back. As it hit the surface some pink dust, not dissimilar to Haru's colour of magic, spurted out of a gap in the corner of the box. There was something very magical in there and Makoto didn't need an education in witchcraft to be able to say that.

Then he got to work in cleaning out the herbs while he waited for Haru to get back. Since Haru was a terrible hoarder he tended to keep them until long after their magical properties had seeped away and now that Makoto was starting to recognise that he made it his mission to clear out all the older ones that were just taking up space. Haru didn't approve of this, but Makoto did it anyway.

When Haru did get back he glared across at the shoebox before Makoto had even said anything.

“What's that doing back here?” he grumbled.

“Rin came by and dropped it off,” Makoto answered, “He said it was from Sousuke and that apparently it's your turn to look after it.”

“I was hoping that Sousuke would get attached enough that I wouldn't have to have it back. Or vice versa,” mumbled Haru.

He made his way over to the table, regarding the shoebox with such distaste that he gained Makoto's interest. Putting down the herbs he'd been sorting, Makoto came over to join him at the table.

“What do you mean by vice versa?” he asked.

“You know, that he would have gotten so attached to Sousuke that he wouldn't want to leave,” Haru said, in a tone that suggested he felt this clarified the matter entirely, even if it had done nothing to take away Makoto's confusion, “But then again I don't blame Sousuke for not falling to his charms. He's got a powerful will, that one.”

“You're going to have to introduce me to this Sousuke one day. It sounds like you think highly of him,” replied Makoto.

“Oh, I do think highly of him, but we don't get along at all,” dismissed Haru. And Makoto knew that this was either normal for witches or just plain normal for Haru. It seemed that Haru hadn't finished yet though, as he started to unwrap the string from the shoebox; “I suppose I should introduce you to this one first though.”

“This one...?” Makoto echoed. He watched as Haru took the lid off the box and pulled out an ornamental lamp, which shone a metallic pink in the light that came through the window. Comprehension dawned upon Makoto and he gasped, “...Is that a real genie?”

“Don't say it like that. He'll get big-headed if he thinks you're impressed by him,” chided Haru, “But yes, this is a genie. One that's the bane of my existence, for that matter. Here, why don't you give the lamp a rub?”

Makoto backed away from the table as if the lamp Haru offered him was made out of poison.

“No way, I've read enough stories about wishes to know that wouldn't end well!” Makoto whimpered, “Even if I did have something I wanted, genies can twist your words to turn it into something horrible, right?”

“He is good at twisting words,” Haru agreed, “But he's not all that powerful, so you don't have to worry.”

“All right, if you're sure it's safe...” mumbled Makoto, taking a step back towards the table.

“I wouldn't go that far,” Haru corrected, “You and I both know that you don't have to use powerful magic to be dangerous.”

“You're not helping,” replied Makoto.

Even so, he took the lamp and gingerly rubbed his thumb across the side of it. There was a pause and Makoto thought that he must have done it wrong, but then a stream of smoke started to emit from the spout – slowly at first, only to build up more and more. Makoto felt the smoke swirl around him and for a moment it felt as if something grabbed at him, but he started coughing badly before he could figure it out.

By the time he opened his eyes again the thick smoke had ebbed away into a thin mist and there was now an attractive man with pink hair stood next to Haru, regarding both of them with interest.

“I don't know whether to be sad that Sousuke gave me the boot or happy to be back here with you again, Haru,” said the genie, “But I'm definitely more than glad to meet your friend over there.”

Haru shrugged; “I'm impressed that Sousuke tolerated you as long as he did.”

“Don't be like that! Sousuke and I built up a special connection. Though not nearly a match to the one we shared, before you get jealous,” replied the genie.

“I'm not jealous,” Haru promised.

“Would you be jealous if I got close to your new friend over there?” hummed the genie. He drifted across to Makoto by merely raising his legs off the floor, then stroked along his arm once he got to him. It felt like being touched by a heavy breeze and made Makoto's hairs stand up on end. Haru tensed considerably, which was noticeable both to Makoto and the genie, who chuckled at Haru's discomfort; “...I thought so. Honestly, it's quite cute to see you've found someone to warm that grumpy heart of yours, Haru. And it would take a powerful fire witch to do something like that, wouldn't it?”

“Kisumi...” Haru muttered, “Mind your own business.”

“Sorry, but right now I'm minding the business of the person who rubbed my lamp. Which is this charming young man. What did you say your name was?” Kisumi said, looking at Makoto.

“M-makoto... And, um, how did you know I was a fire witch?” he replied.

“I'm an immortal genie, when you've been in this game as long as I have you learn how to pick these things up,” answered Kisumi, “You might not realise it, but you're practically radiating your power. Probably because you want to impress your elemental opposite over there. I'm surprised you're not burning a hole through the floor.”

Hearing those words was enough to make Makoto do almost exactly that. He stamped his feet to stop them from sizzling at the wood and wished that he could just disappear to a place where embarrassment didn't exist right about now. The response made Kisumi shriek with laughter.

“Makoto, make your wishes so we can be done with him again,” Haru instructed.

“You're so cruel, Haru! At least let me have some time out in the air before you cast me away again,” huffed Kisumi, “And I know you'll let me, because you're a soft-touch. That's what I like about you and Sousuke both, neither of you are that concerned about wishes, so while you're my masters I can be as free as I want.”

“Makoto's your master right now,” Haru pointed out.

“But I'm... not very interested in wishes either,” admitted Makoto.

“Oh, I'm sure you'll think of something,” Kisumi purred, “And whenever you do I'll be here as soon as you call me. But until then I'm going to stretch my magic for a bit, maybe bother some of the wizards.”

“Don't cause trouble,” Haru called, but by that point Kisumi was already out of the door and away. He looked at Makoto almost apologetically and said, “So that's what a genie is like. Or that's what that genie is like. Kisumi is the only one I've ever met, so I can only judge from him. He's mostly all right, but he can get a bit overbearing at times.”

“Which is why you gave him away?” Makoto checked.

“Sousuke could do with the company,” reasoned Haru, with a wave of his hand.

“If you say so,” Makoto replied, though he honestly felt like before he came along Haru was probably just as lonely as this Sousuke apparently was, “So what can I do with a genie anyway?”

“It's a lot like the stories say – three wishes, but no love, eternal life or bringing people back from the dead,” answered Haru, “And Kisumi's not that powerful, he's mostly just smoke and mirrors, so I wouldn't ask him for anything too much.”

“I wouldn't even know where to start,” Makoto said, “What did you wish for?”

“...Something I shouldn't have done.”

Those words haunted Makoto for all of the rest of the day. Haru didn't elaborate on them at all and in his usual fashion when he didn't want to talk about something, he headed out to make himself busy enough to not have time to explain. But this time Makoto knew there was one person who did know the answers, even if he felt a little bad about going behind Haru's back to get them.

He waited until he was alone, then quietly whispered for Kisumi. In a flash the genie was there in the room with him.

“You rang?” Kisumi hummed.

“Sorry to bother you, but-”

“...Sweetie, you're my master right now. You can bother me as much as you like.”

“R-right, well... anyway, I wanted to ask you something about Haru,” Makoto went on. He swallowed heavily as he said Haru's name, knowing that he shouldn't be asking this at all.

Kisumi didn't seem to mind, however. By contrast he had Makoto figured out right away; “You want to know about his big wish, don't you?”

“I am curious,” Makoto admitted, “He seemed a little upset about it.”

“Well maybe he is, but it's entirely his own fault,” Kisumi retorted, “...I'm sorry, that's kind of harsh. It's just that half of my power goes into maintaining him and I didn't have tons of it to start with.”

“What do you mean by that...?” asked Makoto.

Suddenly his mind drew up an image of Haru's magic, for the few times that he'd seen it in use. Because it was always pink, just like the Iwatobi-chans he made and also just like Kisumi's own magic. So did that mean Haru was only a witch because of Kisumi? His assumptions must have been written all over his face, because Kisumi clicked onto them right away.

“Don't worry, Haru's about as magical as they come, he's just... not always always been the way he is now,” answered Kisumi. It surprised Makoto, but even Kisumi seemed to look uncomfortable by what he was saying, “Look, if Haru hasn't told you himself then maybe it's not my place to do it. And he has been the way he is now for a long time anyway.”

“Very well. I shouldn't be so nosy,” Makoto agreed, with a sigh.

He felt bad for even bothering Kisumi. After he'd been trapped in that lamp for who knew how long the genie probably wanted some time to explore, not be called back here to be faced with non-questions from Makoto.

“Hey, if you can talk him around then maybe the two of you can figure out a solution to the problem together though,” Kisumi suggested, “I wouldn't mind having my full power back and I bet he misses his old blue magic.”

“You said before that he's my elemental opposite,” reminded Makoto.

“A water witch, yes,” answered Kisumi, “Though while he's like this he can only use magic based on my powers. And it doesn't suit him at all, I might add.”

“But are all witches... human?” Makoto asked. He was onto something and he knew it.

“No,” Kisumi said. That was all he needed to say.

“So you mean that Haru used to be a siren or something like that? But everyone says that he inherited his magical skills from his grandmother,” replied Makoto.

“And so he did. His grandmother was human from what I've been told. He very much admired her and wanted to take after her, so that's why he made the wish he did when he was young. But it was a mistake...” Kisumi trailed off, shaking his head before he continued, “You probably know Haru well enough by now to know that he doesn't admit to mistakes though. So all this time he's been too stubborn to ask for me to undo that first wish. I guess it's been so long that he wouldn't even be at home in the sea.”

“Okay, so I'm assuming that he wished he could be a human witch like his grandmother. But I don't get that either. Sirens come on land all the time – there's a fair few of them who live on the beaches around Iwatobi. Heck, a siren even replaced me at work when I packed in my job for witch training,” said Makotto.

Kisumi smiled; “Before I came to Haru's hands, my lamp had lay at the bottom of the ocean for centuries. There are more creatures down there who can bond with humans than just sirens. Those merfolk are similar, but his kind have no legs to come on land with.”

“So Haru's a-”

“...Yes, I am. Or rather I was. But now I'm a human.”

He was standing there at the door. Kisumi mumbled something about leaving the kettle on and disappeared back into the lamp, leaving Makoto alone with the person he was just gossiping about.

“Look, I didn't mean to pry...” Makoto started.

“It's fine.” Though it definitely didn't sound fine from the tone of Haru's voice, “I just don't tell people about it because I don't want people to try and convince me to go back.”

“That's your choice,” said Makoto, “But don't you... miss it? I see you sitting by the ocean all the time.”

“Of course I miss it... There are times that I... feel trapped by the land. But if I was to go back then I'd just be trapped by the sea like I was before. I'd never be able to help Iwatobi, I'd never be able to join Rin's coven and I'd never... get to be with Makoto like this...” Haru looked away. He sounded more distant than he ever had done before.

“Haru...”

Makoto walked over to him and did something that he hadn't dare do before – he hugged Haru. The gesture made Haru gasp in surprise, but he didn't pull away. To the contrary he put his arms around Makoto as well. They stood together for a few minutes, rocking each other from side to side.

“Thank you...” Haru whispered, without pulling away.

Makoto rested his head on Haru's shoulder. He could see smoke hovering around the lamp on the table and figured that Kisumi was watching, but he found that he didn't mind.

“No matter where you choose to be, Haru is Haru to me. You'll always be the same grumpy witch,” he murmured, talking directly into Haru's ear, “Besides, you need to finish training me up before you go anywhere right.”

“I promise that I will,” Haru assured him.

“Good. Then after that maybe I can find a way to help you be free again...” vowed Makoto.

But from where Kisumi was watching, it looked as if Haru was the most free that he'd seen him be for a long time.

***

When the fabled Sousuke finally made an appearance it wasn't nearly as grand as Makoto had been expecting. But then again, he shouldn't have been surprised. Sousuke sounded like a witch after Haru's own heart when it came to solitude. There was a vaguely intimidating air to him as he stood there, frown firmly in place, but Kisumi had assured Makoto that he was a big softie really and the frowns were just for show. Makoto hadn't asked how Kisumi knew that.

“He's dragged you all the way here?” Haru asked, once the two of them had reached where Sousuke was standing.

“I'm surprised you even came,” Sousuke replied, without explaining why he'd come himself, “And I suppose this must be the apprentice that Rin mentioned.”

“This is Makoto, yes,” Haru confirmed, “He's been my apprentice for... four years now, I think? But he's very close to graduating, so he won't be for much longer.”

“Has it really been four years since Rin last came by? Time does fly...” Sousuke thoughtfully said, “I guess you'll be wanting me to take Kisumi back soon.”

“No, he's getting along fine as a free genie and we don't mind sharing a house with his lamp,” answered Haru.

Sousuke raised an eyebrow; “Last time you couldn't wait to be rid of him.”

“I've... grown up since last time,” mumbled Haru. He briefly glanced at Makoto, before looking away; “Besides, there could be worse things than having a genie around.”

“I'll take your word for it,” Sousuke dismissed, “And it looks like his highness is here.”

Flashy as always, Rin pulled up from out of the sky and gracefully landed his broom near to where they were talking. The effect was ruined considerably by the fact that he hopped around once he'd gotten off, trying to regain the feeling in his legs. It was a long flight from Australia, after all.

“Just get a plane next time,” Sousuke called over to him, unsympathetically.

“There won't be a next time, I'm back for good,” Rin informed, coming over to them as he recovered, “Gou knows already, but I thought I'd save the surprise for my coven-to-be.”

“You're still going on about that?” Haru tutted.

“Hey, Makoto said he'd join me when he's done with his training and that has to be happening soon,” Rin argued, “Four years is a good enough head start, yeah?” When he looked over at Makoto it was apparent from his grin that he wasn't just talking about the apprenticeship.

“More than good enough,” assured Makoto, putting an arm over Haru's shoulder.

“Eh, whatever,” Rin concluded. He gave a dismissive wave of his hand, “Now can someone get Kisumi to wish my luggage over here? I don't want to have to pay for magical storage to transport it.”

“I'm not here to be your delivery boy,” Kisumi chimed, appearing in a puff of smoke. It would have been impressive if they all hadn't seen him do it a million times before. Dramatic entrances were a lot less dramatic when done every time someone entered a room.

“Come on, be a dear!” Rin teased.

“Fiiiine!”

He clicked his fingers. There was a long silence and then Rin realised he was probably trusting Kisumi a bit too much.

“Where did you send it all exactly?” he checked.

“Some of it's at Gou's place, some of it is at Haru's and the rest is at Sousuke's. You're welcome,” hummed Kisumi.

“You're a nightmare...” Rin sighed.

“I just figured those were the places you'd be spending the most time. You're a coven now, right?” said Kisumi.

Rin looked around at the other three and, much to his surprise, both Sousuke and Haru were nodding.

“Might as well be,” Sousuke said.

“There's no getting away from it,” agreed Haru.

“Yes! I've finally got a real coven!” Rin whooped. He surged forward to grab them all in a hug and his good spirits were infectious. Soon enough they were all laughing along with him. When Rin pulled away he stood up straight to make an announcement, “The coven of Iwatobi will have their first meeting in five days, at Haru's house, because I want to see what he's done with it. Kisumi can come as well, of course. It'd be impressive to be the first coven with a genie in it.”

“Can genies join covens?” Makoto asked.

“There's no rules against it,” replied Kisumi, with a shrug, “I'll see if I can fit it into my schedule that day.”

“You'd better,” warned Rin, “Now come on, I'm starving after flying all that way. Sousuke, care to buy me lunch?”

Sousuke snorted, but he didn't object, turning away and walking off with the expectation that Rin would follow. And he did of course, with Kisumi trailing along after them like a bloodhound on the scent of gossip.

Before Makoto could decide if he should go with them or not he turned to look back at Haru, only to find Haru staring out to sea. This wasn't unusual for him, but it never got any less depressing. Part of him wanted to go back there, even if he kept saying that he'd decided to stay...

And, like always, Makoto went to him. He took Haru's hand and threaded their fingers together, ducking down a little to whisper to him.

“We'll figure it out. One day we'll figure it out...”

Haru looked up at him, smiling in a melancholy way. He nodded; “I know that we will. Thank you, Makoto.”

“D-don't thank me until I've solved the problem,” stammered Makoto, “Now, um, should we go catch up with the others?”

“We should, but...” Haru paused, then he reached over to kiss Makoto lightly on the cheek, “...You've... well, you've already solved my problems just by being here. That sounds terrible, doesn't it? I'm no good at this kind of thing. But... I just wanted to say that I'm thankful for that day that you came back to my house with the dried frog's leg.”

Makoto chuckled, musing that they were probably the only couple in the world who could owe their being together to something like that. All the same, he was also glad that he hadn't just decided to go back to the store and hope that Haru wouldn't notice he was one frog's leg short that day.

“What can I say, the Sasabe Magical Supplies Store never short delivers,” joked Makoto, sticking out his tongue.

“I'll say,” agreed Haru.

He started to walk away before Makoto could get him to clarify exactly what he meant by that, but he had a pretty good idea. So Makoto shook his head in exasperation and followed Haru, into a world that was much more magical than he'd ever expected he'd be able to experience.


End file.
